The Curse

Genesis 3:17-19 Then to Adam God said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

 Do you remember the last time you blew it with God and sinned against Him; either doing what the Lord said not to do, or not doing what the Lord said to do, therefore not living a life pleasing in His sight? Do you remember what that did inside of you? You’re not alone. People have experienced those guilt and shameful feelings of letting God down since the beginning of time.

I read a great little devotional that asked: What happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned? They died spiritually. Their minds were darkened. They stubbornly followed their own wills, their spirits out of tune with God. Through their sin, Adam and Eve allowed sorrow, separation, guilt, fear, and self-centeredness into Paradise of the Garden of Eden and into the lives of all humankind, bringing hatred, crime, violence, war, death, and Hell in their wake.

The Curse resulting from Adam and Eve’s sin has not only spiritual implications, but also physical ones. God pronounced “the Curse” first upon Satan for deceiving and tempting the woman, condemning the Serpent to crawl on its belly and eat dust. Then God cursed the woman, increasing her suffering in childbirth and subjecting her to her husband. For the man, God took the delight from work, relegating the man to a life of labor and toil in the midst of thorns and thistles. All of the animals came under the Curse, and what had been kindly and loving pets became dangerous, wild, and poisonous creatures. Finally, all creatures would eventually succumb to physical death most often preceded by disease, illness, pain, and weakness.

Maybe you’d rather not dwell on such depressing issues at this time of year. And, fortunately, you don’t have to. Why? Because Christmas is all about Christ’s coming to take away the effects of this horrible curse. Christ came to earth as a baby to absorb the Curse for us. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus destroyed the Devil’s works and created a way for us to be restored, perfect in God’s sight.

In the classic Christmas song “Joy to the World”, there third verse says: “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as, the curse is found. God begins that work in you and me when we surrender to Him and become His children, born of the Spirit. That work continues throughout our lives in the process of sanctification. Fully and perfectly, we will be restored when we reach Heaven; Christ will have completed His work in us and eliminated the Curse. In a perfect world and in perfect bodies, we shall dwell forever with Christ in the kingdom of Heaven.

This is the message of Christmas, the reason Jesus came to earth as a babe, God incarnate. As you and I anticipate Christmas this year, let’s rejoice that all curses are reversed in Jesus Christ, Emmanuel.

Merry Christmas